Melvin Glover, professionally known by his stage name, Grandmaster Melle Mel, has claimed that Eminem’s skin color has made him one of the best rappers in the world.
The White Lines rapper, 61, recently appeared on The Art of Dialogue podcast and shared his views on the Rap God’s worldwide popularity and how he earned a fifth spot in the list of top five rappers on Billboard.
The musician said that although Em is a capable rapper, being white has helped him a lot in his music career.
“Obviously, he’s a capable rapper,” Mel said. “If you were talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white.”
“[A rapper] that had records and all that? He’s 35. [Eminem’s] white.”
Mel insisted that if the Mockingbird rapper was black like so many others in the industry, he would not have made it to the top five list like the rest of them.
“And the point is this: if I was white, I’d be greater than [Elvis Presley]” he said.
“And they would be like, “Melle Mel is greater than Elvis. Melle Mel is the greatest white man that has ever lived. He came up with a culture, he was a part of a culture that changed the whole world. That is a great a** white man right there.”
“But I’m not white. I’m one of the n*gg*s. So, you know, anybody can be as mad as they want. They can feel how they wanna feel. If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation in how great he is—I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him.“
Citing the example of Royce Da 5’9’’, Mell who’s on no. 48 in the list, said he is not as big a rapper as Em because he is not white.
“[Royce Da 5’9”], I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why ain’t he as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! None of that sh*t [is] hard to figure out!”
The musician emphasized that race plays a crucial role in a musician’s success in the industry, and there are so many other talented rappers who are not in the top five list only because of their skin color.
Reacting to his comments, one person said on Twitter.
“With that logic wouldn’t there be more white rappers? If simply being white elevated you.”
“so why isn’t any other white rapper ever considered a top 5 rapper? This narrative is cringe especially coming from one of the founders of Hip Hop when Eminem constantly supports the people who came before him and who he was inspired by. People can’t handle that he does it better,” another wrote.
“I’m not too young to know most artists from early hip hop years, but I do know that I don’t know who Melle Mel is, so I see this as invalid due to Em being on charts and destroying opponents in battles,” a third commented.
“Em is a great lyricist and his word play is on point. I’ve never even heard of Melle Mel,” said another.
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Source: The Art of Dialogue podcast
